Monday, May 5, 2008

I'm sitting here at 1:30 in the morning trying to figure out how in the hell I went from not caring what kind of hormones were pumped into the cow that became my hamburger or the chemicals used to grow my corn to dropping $85.00 on organic everything during a late night run to the supermarket.BPA in bottles? Recycling? Homemade versus processed baby food? Not one of these issues mattered in the least to me before I got pregnant. But then the beta level began to rise, my craving (yes, an actual craving) for organic skim milk rose with it. There was no way I was going to put plain old regular milk into my delicate and pregnant system.Since having Buttercup, I've mentioned I use cloth diapers, make my own baby food, and use reusable baby wipes and an homemade wipes solution. My motivations for all of these things was not to save the environment, but to save the green in my wallet. Babies are expensive, and anything to stretch the almighty parental dollar was worth a shot in my book.The afterthought, which everyday seems to be coming more and more to the surface, is a more eco-friendly approach to living. While I'm far from being a card-carrying "crunchy momma," I'm a lot more aware of how I live and its effect on the planet, as well as the example I want to set for my little Buttercup.I'm far from the ideal. I don't brush my teeth while I shower (and am still trying to break the habit of running the water during the actual process while standing over the sink), lights and appliances stay on and forgotten for hours on end, and I've yet to trek my booty over to the Department of Public Works to get myself a freakin' recycling bin.But I am trying. Thanks to Buttercup, I'm at least doing that. And everyday, I seem to get just a little bit greener.